Rousseau, whose writings Blake studied, argued that one of the principles that motivated human beings was revulsion at seeing fellow human beings suffer and die. How far do Blake’s Songs reflect this view of Rousseau in their themes and language?

Some of Blake’s Songs reflect on the suffering of human beings and the reactions of the people involved in their lives. It could be said that by writing poetry about these suffering people, Blake himself has been motivated by the suffering of other human beings and so follows the beliefs of Rousseau. Most particularly in ‘The Little Black Boy’, ‘The Chimney Sweeper’, and ‘Infant Sorrow’, Blake explores ideas of suffering and death and we can draw conclusions from his work about the motivations of humans in connection with Rousseau’s writings.

Human motivation due to revulsion at seeing human suffering is explored in ‘The Little Black Boy’, related to the issues of racism and slavery at the time of Blake’s writing. Blake was himself motivated by revulsion at the suffering of the black slaves, and was influential in the movement against slavery. The child in this poem is perhaps motivated by the suffering of his own people, as he believed that he can be friends with the white children, especially in the world of God, ‘and be like him, and he will then love me.’ Blake’s use of the future tense here creates an assertion by the child, as he truly believes that black and white can be one despite the suffering of the black slaves at the time. Blake also transcends the normal attitudes to slavery by presenting the black child and his mother as intelligent human beings, contrasting to the view of black people that the slave owners and traders held at the time, believing they were almost savages and good for nothing but hard labour. The mother is protective, ‘my mother taught me underneath a tree,’ which is a characteristic she has passed on to her son, ‘I’ll shade him from the heat until he can bear/ to lean in joy upon our father’s knee.’ Blake presents radical views on the topic for his time, following Rousseau’s idea about human motivation caused by seeing others suffer.

Child suffering is continued in the collection in ‘The Chimney Sweeper’, where Blake presents an innocent poem in a world of experience. The child in this poem seems to have accepted his fate, and so perhaps does not fit totally with Rousseau’s thoughts on motivation, as the child is not motivated to change his own suffering. However, the child is motivated to help minimise the suffering of others, ‘Hush Tom, never mind it.’ The use of the soft soothing ‘hush’ creates an image of the chimneysweeper as being old and wise beyond his years and gives him a protective, fatherly quality despite his age. Once again, Blake himself is following the view of Rousseau by drawing attention to the ideas of child labour, as he is motivated by seeing their suffering in the increasingly industrial world he lived in. Similarly, ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ poem in Experience explores issues of child exploitation and selling, although the Experience poem puts more emphasis on the responsibility of the parents in putting their child in such a position of vulnerability. The chimneysweeper in this poem is not even attributed the characteristics of a child, and is referred to as

a ‘little black thing’ showing its diminutive stance not only in stature but also in society. Within this poem is an example of people who are obviously not motivated by human suffering, as the child’s parents ignore the feelings of their child, “and because I am happy and dance and sing/ they think they have done me no injury.” Here Blake has characterised the child through typical infantile verbs “dance and sing” although this is contrasted by the feelings of the child, which are masked by its actions. Also, there is a point made by Blake on the role of the church in such social issues, and how organised religion plays a major role in the actions of people. Blake’s personal religion was Christianity, although he followed a kind of free religion based on Jesus and love and freedom, and not the restriction of the organised church presented in poems such as ‘The Garden of Love’. Blake shows here how the organised church does not encourage people to act as Rousseau suggests, as the parents of the chimney sweep are in the church praising God and his priest and king” instead of acting upon the evident suffering of their child and the children around them in society.

‘Infant Sorrow’ also includes issues of suffering, although this poem is from the perspective of a much younger child than the ones presented in ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ and ‘The Little Black Boy.’ The suffering in this poem is obvious, presented through imagery of restriction, “striving against my swaddling bands” where the sibilance creates a venomous tone from the small infant. Blake also explores how this continual suffering and restriction can lead to a breakdown of human emotions and determination, “Bound and weary, I thought best/ to sulk upon my mother’s breast.” Once again, the parents in this poem are shown as not being motivated by the suffering of their child, although Blake is bringing attention to this social problem by writing about it and therefore is following Rousseau’s writings. This poem contrasts greatly with its Innocence counterpart, where the infant has its own voice and opinions, “I am but two days old” compared to the Experience infant who is silenced.

The theme of sorrow and suffering of others is explored extensively in ‘On Another’s Sorrow’. Blake uses a rhetorical questions to involve the reader and urge them to explore their own motivations in life, ‘Can I see another’s woe/ and not be in sorrow too?’ In this poem Blake is clearly exploring Rousseau’s ideas as he is stating the impossibility for a person not to be moved and motivated by the suffering of others, ‘No, no, never can it be/ Never, never can it be.’ The repeated use of negatives enforces his certainty that everybody must be motivated by another’s sorrow. Blake also emphasises his views by including a comparison to Jesus, ‘He doth give his joy to all/ He becomes an infant small’, which universalises the idea of compassion for others.

Rousseau believes that the suffering and death of human beings is a main issue in motivating other human beings to act, and Blake evidently agrees with this view, as shown through the issues presented in his poems. Although some of the characters in the collection obviously are not motivated by other’s suffering, this is where Blake is making his points and he is encouraging his readers to be motivated by seeing the

suffering of those humans who are ignored. Blake himself has proved Rousseau’s theory by writing poems, which create a wider awareness of social issues and bring to light the suffering of children and other humans which were often suppressed.